Participation in Social Activities among Adolescents with an Autism Spectrum Disorder
Open Access
- 14 November 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 6 (11), e27176
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027176
Abstract
Little is known about patterns of participation in social activities among adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The objectives were to report nationally representative (U.S.) estimates of participation in social activities among adolescents with an ASD, to compare these estimates to other groups of adolescents with disabilities, and examine correlates of limited social participation. We analyzed data from wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2, a large cohort study of adolescents enrolled in special education. Three comparison groups included adolescents with learning disabilities, mental retardation, and speech/language impairments. Adolescents with an ASD were significantly more likely never to see friends out of school (43.3%), never to get called by friends (54.4%), and never to be invited to social activities (50.4%) when compared with adolescents from all the other groups. Correlates of limited social participation included low family income and having impairments in conversational ability, social communication, and functional cognitive skills. Compared with prior research, our study significantly expands inquiry in this area by broadening the range of social participation indicators examined, increasing the external validity of findings, focusing on the under-studied developmental stage of adolescence, and taking an ecological approach that included many potential correlates of social participation. There were notable differences in social participation by income, a dimension of social context seldom examined in research on ASDs.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Social Participation in a Nationally Representative Sample of Older Youth and Young Adults With AutismJournal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2011
- The snowball effect: Friendship moderates escalations in depressed affect among avoidant and excluded childrenDevelopment and Psychopathology, 2010
- Socioeconomic Inequality in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a U.S. Cross-Sectional StudyPLOS ONE, 2010
- Autism Spectrum Disorder and Co-occurring Developmental, Psychiatric, and Medical Conditions Among Children in Multiple Populations of the United StatesJournal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2010
- Participation of Children with and without Disabilities in Social, Recreational and Leisure ActivitiesJournal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 2010
- Predicting Friendship Quality in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Typical DevelopmentJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009
- Identification and Evaluation of Children With Autism Spectrum DisordersPEDIATRICS, 2007
- Peer Functioning in Children With ADHDAcademic Pediatrics, 2007
- Social Skills Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of the Intervention ResearchJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2006
- Diagnosis to FunctionJournal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2005